He spent 1976 to 1978 at Hull City, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He spent seven years at the helm, guiding the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1980–81 and 1983–84, before he took on the manager's job at Leeds United in October 1985. He could not get the club promoted back into the top-flight and left the club in September 1988. He returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991.

Dropped following an opening day defeat by Liverpool at Anfield, Bremner had to win back his first team place later in the 1960–61 season after meeting with Jack Taylor to explain his frustration at being left out of the team.[8] Taylor resigned in March 1961, and player Don Revie was promoted to manager.[9] Revie rejected an approach of £25,000 from Hibernian for Bremner, despite the player wanting to return to Scotland to be with his fiancée.[10] Leeds struggled in the 1961–62 campaign, finishing just three points above the Second Division relegation zone, despite 12 goals in 45 appearances from Bremner, who finished as the club's joint top-scorer alongside centre-half Jack Charlton.[11] One bright spot was the signing of Bobby Collins in March, who helped form the "win-at-all-costs" attitude that defined Leeds and Bremner throughout the rest of Revie's 13 years as manager.[12]

United had a more promising 1962–63 campaign, finishing four points shy of promotion, though Bremner was limited to 24 appearances. He was out of form and dropped from the first team during the end of season run-in, which contained a disproportionately large number of games due to the high level of postponements that occurred during the harsh winter.[13] Revie moved Bremner to central midfield, and bought Manchester United's Johnny Giles to create what would prove to be one of the most highly effective central midfield partnerships of the next 12 years.[13] With Bremner, Collins and Giles in midfield, Leeds went on to win promotion as champions in the 1963–64 season.[13] The club won no friends in doing so however, and the following summer were labelled by the Football Association's own FA News as "the dirtiest [team] in the Football League.[14] In November of the 1964–65 season Bremner featured heavily in a win at Everton that was marred by violent clashes on the pitch, the game was stopped for a short spell ten minutes before half-time as the referee felt that a spell of cooling down was needed to prevent further violence; despite the referee only giving 12 Leeds fouls to Everton's 19 the match helped to cement United's reputation as a dirty and overly physical team.[14] A run of victories put the club top by the new year, however they lost the title on goal average to Manchester United after drawing the last game of the season with already-relegated Birmingham City.[15] The Manchester club would become a keen rival, one which intensified after Leeds knocked them out of the FA Cup at the semi-finals after two physical encounters.[16] Leeds faced Liverpool in the final at Wembley, and the game went to extra-time after a 0–0 draw; Bremner scored a half-volley in the 100th minute to cancel out Roger Hunt's opener, but Ian St John won the game for Liverpool in the 113th minute.[17]

In October 1965, Leeds skipper Collins was injured in an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup game against Torino and Revie gave the captaincy to Bremner after initially handing the armband to Charlton for the remainder of the season; Charlton was keen to give up the captaincy as it prevented his superstitious ritual of coming out of the tunnel last on match days.[18] Revie and Bremner had a strong bond of trust, which was why the manager gave him the captaincy at such a young age.[19] Leeds finished second in the league in the 1965–66 campaign to Liverpool, who had finished six points clear at the top.[20]

The club had a slow start to the 1967–68 season but soon picked up, particularly so with a 7–0 victory over Chelsea, though for the second successive season they ended up in fourth spot.[23] Success instead came from the cup competitions, as they first knocked out Luton Town, Bury, Sunderland, Stoke City and Derby County in the League Cup en route to the final against Arsenal at Wembley; Leeds won the game 1–0 in a dour defensive manner but striker Jimmy Greenhoff later said it was the most memorable of the club's trophies due to it being the first such success.[24] The second soon followed, despite a disappointment of exiting the FA Cup at the semi-final stage with defeat by Everton, as they reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by beating CA Spora (Luxembourg), FK Partizan (Yugoslavia), Hibernian (Scotland), Rangers (Scotland), and Dundee (Scotland). They beat Ferencvárosi (Hungary) 1–0 at Elland Road and held them to a 0–0 draw at Népstadion to win the club's first European trophy.[25]

Revie targeted the title for the 1968–69 campaign and played Bremner in every league game as Leeds finished six points clear at the top to become champions of England for the first time.[26] The title was secured with a 0–0 draw with title rivals Liverpool at Anfield on 28 April, after which Bremner led the players to applaud the Liverpool fans who responded by chanting "Champions, Champions, Champions ...".[27] Leeds set a number of records: most points (67), most wins (27), fewest defeats (2), and most home points (39).[28] A still-unbroken club record is their 34 match unbeaten run that extended into the following season.[28]

The 1969–70 season opened with victory in the 1969 FA Charity Shield, as Bremner captained Leeds to a 2–1 victory over Manchester City.[29] With new arrival Allan Clarke played upfront alongside Mick Jones and Peter Lorimer Revie had to instruct Bremner and Giles to resist the temptation to get forward and attack.[29] It took the team some time to gel, as only two wins came from the opening eight league games, and Leeds eventually finished a distant second to champions Everton.[29] They chased Everton all season only to give up on the title after a home defeat by Southampton late in the campaign.[30] In the European Cup Leeds recorded a club record 10–0 win over Norwegian side Lyn, with Bremner netting two of the goals.[31] However they exited the competition at the semi-final stage after two defeats to Celtic; Bremner levelled the aggregate score by putting United 1–0 ahead in front of a competition record 136,505 spectators at Hampden Park, but Celtic came back to win the game and the tie with two second half goals.[32] Further disappointment came in the 1970 FA Cup Final, where Leeds were beaten 2–1 in extra-time of the replay at Old Trafford.[33] Bremner was named as FWA Footballer of the Year for the season.[30]

"Leeds, like Sisyphus, have pushed three boulders almost to the top of three mountains and are now left to see them all back in the dark of the valley."

Leeds finished second in the league for the third successive season in the 1971–72 campaign, despite playing some of the best football in the club's history.[40] They knocked out Bristol Rovers, Liverpool, Cardiff City, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City to reach the 1972 FA Cup Final with Arsenal; they then won the trophy for the first time in the club's history with Allan Clarke scoring the final's only goal.[41] Two days after the final Leeds could have secured the Double by winning a point against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but a 2–1 defeat handed the title to Derby County.[42][43] On 3 February 1982, Bremner won £100,000 libel damages, along with legal costs, after he sued the Sunday People newspaper for publishing an article on 11 September 1977 that alleged he tried to fix football matches, including the May 1972 game at Wolves.[44] Bremner donated the damages to a Leeds Hospice.[45]

Revie instructed Bremner to be more attacking in the 1973–74 campaign, and the result was 11 goals in 52 appearances, his biggest goal tally in 12 years.[48] The manager focused entirely on the league and told his team the aim was to go the season unbeaten, and although they lost three games they secured a second league title by a five-point margin on second-place Liverpool.[49] Bremner was named on the PFA Team of the Year and finished second in the FWA Footballer of the Year voting to Ian Callaghan.[50] At the end of the season he was given a testimonial match against Sunderland which raised him £32,500; he had chosen the opponents in an attempt to avenge defeat in the previous year's FA Cup final.[51]

Manager Don Revie took the England management job in July 1974. Bremner applied for the vacant Leeds job after Johnny Giles had been named by Revie as his successor, but instead the board surprised everyone by appointing Brian Clough, who went on to a disastrous 44-day spell in charge of Leeds at the start of the 1974–75 season.[52] Revie's departure was tough for Bremner, who had a strong bond with his manager.[52] Leeds lost the 1974 FA Charity Shield in a penalty shoot-out to Liverpool, but more significantly Bremner and Kevin Keegan were sent off for fighting and received eleven game suspensions.[53] By the time Bremner was allowed to play again Jimmy Armfield was the manager, though he refuted the accusation that he had attempted to undermine Clough as "ridiculous".[54] Teammate Peter Lorimer insisted that the only criticism he had of Bremner was in applying for the management job against Giles, which had caused to board to look elsewhere for fear of dividing the dressing room by choosing between Bremner and Giles.[55] Results improved with Bremner back in the side, and though they ended the season in ninth place, they were only eight points behind champions Derby. The club's biggest aim would be success in the European Cup, and they made it to the final after knocking out FC Zürich (Switzerland), Újpest FC (Hungary), Anderlecht (Belgium), and Barcelona (Spain). Their final opponents at Parc des Princes were defending championsBayern Munich (Germany), who beat Leeds 2–0; United had a goal controversially ruled out for offside and the tie ended in rioting by United fans.[56]

With most of the Revie built team retiring or moving on to other clubs, Armfield had to rebuild the squad, though Bremner would still play 38 games in the 1975–76 campaign.[57] However, he missed a lengthy spell in the new year due to injury and results dipped during this time and ultimately ended the club's title hopes; they went on to end the campaign in fifth spot.[57]

Hull City

Bremner signed with Hull City for a £25,000 fee on 23 September 1976, manager John Kaye feeling that Bremner's experience would benefit his youthful Second Division side.[58] His debut at Boothferry Park came against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, and Bremner was credited with scoring the winning goal of the game with a free-kick, though it seemed to have gone in with a significant deflection.[59] Despite the good start results dipped midway through the 1976–77 season and the "Tigers" ended the season in 14th place. Despite suffering with a back injury Bremner was appointed as captain and played 32 games.[60]

He missed the 1977–78 pre-season with a knee injury, but recovered well enough to make 36 appearances throughout the campaign.[61] Kaye was sacked after a poor start to the season, and was replaced by Bremner's former Leeds teammate Bobby Collins, who had joined the club as assistant manager in the summer; as at Leeds, Bremner had applied for the vacant managerial role, but was rejected.[62] After being turned down for the job he announced his intention to retire as a player at the end of his contract in June 1978.[63] The season was a disaster, and though Collins was sacked and replaced by youth coach Ken Houghton in February, results did not improve and Hull were relegated in last place, ten points from safety.[64]

International career

Bremner was well established in the Scotland set-up, winning three under-23 caps, before he made his debut for Scotland in a 0–0 draw with Spain at Hampden Park.[65] He went on to feature in qualifying games for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but defeats to Poland and Italy left Scotland second in the Group, which was not enough to qualify.[66] He also played in friendlies against Brazil and Portugal, and received a black eye from Pelé's elbow in a clash during a high ball; despite this being an accident it still demonstrated to Bremner how he had failed to intimidate Pelé as he had done to many other great players of the day.[66]

Bremner's last cap came against Denmark on 3 September 1975. An incident in Copenhagen after the game where several players were ejected from a nightclub for an alleged fight led to a lifetime ban from international football by the Scottish Football Association; four other players, Willie Young, Joe Harper, Pat McCluskey and Arthur Graham also were banned for life (Graham and Harper later had their bans overturned).[75] Bremner maintained his innocence, stating that the incident had been blown out of proportion by the SFA.[76]

He introduced massages and changed the canteen and team kit for the 1979–80 campaign.[81] With no money available for transfers he was forced to turn to the youth team for new players, though he could afford to take on Ian Nimmo, Hugh Dowd, John Dowie and Billy Russell on free transfers.[82] He appointed former Leeds coach Les Cocker as his assistant.[83] The season started poorly, but the squad bonded following Cocker's death on 4 October and went on a run of six straight wins, for which Bremner was credited with the Fourth Division Manager of the Month award.[84] However a run of just one win in 15 games followed, for which Bremner blamed his small squad and lack of training facilities.[85] A mounting injury crisis caused him to make a return to playing on 29 March for the visit of Bournemouth, a game in which 16-year-old Ian Snodin was named on the bench.[85] Rovers ended the season in 12th place.

A disappointing opening sequence of the 1980–81 season was followed by six wins in six games in September, and Bremner won his second Manager of the Month award.[86] The good results continued for the rest of the campaign, and Rovers were promoted in third place.[87] He signed Celtic's Colin Douglas for the challenge of Third Division football, but otherwise remained loyal to his promotion squad for the approaching 1981–82 season.[83] Another strong September, six wins seeing the club rise to second in the table, won Bremner the Third Division Manager of the Month award.[83] However a lean spell would follow, and from November to February Doncaster failed to win in the league.[88] Results again picked up with only two defeats in the last 14 games, and they ended the campaign in 19th spot, three points above the relegation zone.[88]

Strong competition promoted from the Fourth Division – Wigan Athletic, Sheffield United and Bradford City – made the 1982–83 campaign a tough prospect.[89] A weak defence saw an unusual sequence of high-scoring matches early in the season: 6–1 win over Exeter City, 7–5 win over Reading, 6–3 defeat by Wigan, and a 4–4 draw with Brentford.[90] Only seven wins from the last 36 games of the season left Doncaster relegated in 23rd place, 16 points behind 20th-place Orient.[91]

At the beginning of December 1997, Bremner was rushed to hospital after suffering from pneumonia, but suffered a suspected heart attack at his Doncaster home in the small village of Clifton and died two days before his 55th birthday.[122] His funeral, attended by many of Bremner's former teammates and other football players and coaches, was held four days later in the Yorkshire village of Old Edlington.[123]

"Billy Bremner was one of Britain's most fiery, skilful and industrious footballers of the post-war years. An essential cog in the pragmatic, often over-robust yet frequently wonderfully entertaining Leeds United team of the Sixties and Seventies, he was also the red-haired dynamo in Scotland's international side, winning 54 caps."